BK "Hey, guess what?"
CS "What?"
BK "Today's my birthday!"
CS "Wow, really? Happy birthday! How old…23, is it?"

At the age of twenty-three, Ben Kweller has made three albums, taken part in many enviable collaborations and has almost a decade of experience in the music industry under his belt.

There is always an element of danger in the young artist - one minute they're the answer to the collective prayers of the masses, the media's darling and 'next big thing'…but before you can say 'Shirley Temple' you find them fit for nothing, save appearances alongside Chesney Hawkes and Jason Donavan at Freshers' Week.

Ben Kweller

Evidently, this fate has not befallen Ben Kweller as yet, so I went to find out why.

One thing is very striking when talking to Kweller, and is probably one of the main reasons for his longevity as an artist - the fact is, as trite and cliché as it might sound, that he is an incredibly nice, charming and chatty guy, without a hint of arrogance or pretension in his demeanor.

Early career

Feeling far more at ease than I had done in the last hour, we start to discuss his early career with pop-rock outfit Radish - does he have any regrets at entering the industry at such an early age?

"You know…no, I don't. It helped me get to where I am now and I have no regrets about that", he muses. "We got to play all over the place, make an album and it was cool…I don't think I'd be here without it".

Continuing with the Radish thread, we discuss 'Little Pink Stars', their biggest hit in the UK - and winner of 'Coolest Vinyl Ever' to anyone who owns the 7" version…he laughs, "Is that the one with pink glitter? Yeah, that was wicked!"

I ask him whether it feels at all odd to have written a song that invokes circa-1997 nostalgia, "Awww! No, it's cool…really great that it can make people feel that way!"

Festivals

He starts to talk about some of Radish's festival appearances with evident enthusiasm, does he prefer the festival to the more intimate indoor venue?

He pauses "The good thing about festivals is that I get to hang out with all my friends, have a beer and just chill…we always seem to be touring at the same time, so it's nice to be able to catch up".

Time ticks away, time to steer the conversation away from being 14 and towards more relevant waters.

Collaborations

His early solo career is marked by collaborations. Everyone from Rhett Miller to Juliana Hatfield was impressed by his first performances, but one of the most interesting collaborations came with Evan Dando, lead singer of the Lemonheads and a personal hero of Ben's.

"Evan did everything for me, he took me under his wing and brought me to the UK when no-one knew or cared who I was".

Ben obviously holds Dando in high esteem, an early live recording has him covering The Lemonheads' My Drug Buddy with the heartfelt introduction "This is a song by a guy I love so much y'all…I just hope he doesn't mind if I mess up the words…" I assure him that the cover did it justice, he seems pleased "Awww…thank-you!".

The Bens

I ignore the fact that I might seem a little obsequious at this stage, and enquire about a more recent alliance, that with Ben Folds and Ben Lee in their aptly-monikered side project 'The Bens'.

"I've known Ben Lee the longest and then he introduced me to Ben Folds and we hit it off", he reminisces thoughtfully, "It was a lot of fun!" I gleefully remark that the name is even more entertaining than The Donnas, as they were all actually called Ben.

"Ha…yeah! I would love to record with them again…but we're all working on our own stuff at the moment, maybe in the future. I definitely want to work with Evan on the next album though".

Exciting though it is to hear talk of the next Ben Kweller solo recording, the time has come to discuss his current album 'On My Way'.

Progression

The progression from the debut 'Sha Sha', is noticeable, Ben Kweller himself has said in previous interviews that "On 'Sha Sha' I'd say I got eight out of the 10 elements of being a complete artist together. This time I'm one step closer to getting all 10", which was curious as the implication was the rawer production methods employed on this album were going to be a permanent fixture.

Ben agrees "The recording process, for me, is secondary to the songs themselves. You can spend weeks, months, YEARS on recording and still not be happy, but with 'On My Way', which we recorded in three weeks, it's like listening to a new album every time - I'll definitely be recording like this in the future, because I can spend more time on the songs".

Listening to 'On My Way', the difference from 'Sha Sha' is evident. Quite aside from the lack of pre-production, this album shows us a Ben Kweller who knows who he is as an artist.

Gone is the faltering self-exploration of the debut, and in its place we have the confident fluidity of someone, who through being himself has grown into a mature artist while still retaining all the qualities that attracted fans and peers alike to him in the first place.

Ladies and gentlemen - I give you Ben Kweller: The Same, but Different.

Ben Kweller plays the Birmingham Academy 2 on 8 July.

His latest album 'On My Way' is out now.